2005 Philippine electoral crisis

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An electoral crisis emerged in the Philippines in June 2005. Certain evidence have surfaced regarding alleged electoral fraud conducted by incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 national election. The official results of that election gave Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. Hundreds of national and local positions were also contested during this election.

Numerous allegations on Arroyo and her accomplices in government include corruption, electoral fraud, kidnapping, harassment, and other crimes. They were also allegedly engaged in cover-up and conspiracy to enable Arroyo and her allies to avoid accountability and liability for their actions. The government has denied some of the allegations and challenged others in court. Despite this government response, Arroyo and her alleged accomplices are still to be tried in court. Arroyo's most well-known alleged accomplice, from the Electoral Commission, Virgilio Garcillano, has left the country, amid allegations that his escape was supported by a government cover-up. Garcillano denies any wrongdoing and the government has denied any cover-up.

Contents

Events history

Main article: Timeline of 2005 Philippine electoral crisis

Samuel Ong, a former deputy director of the country's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) declared in a June 10 press conference that he possessed original recordedings of a wiretapped conversation between Arroyo and an official of the Commission on Elections. In the following weeks, the contents of the tapes were analyzed by the media. The Ong recordings allegedly prove that the 2004 national election was rigged by Arroyo to maintain her presidency and the political success of her allies. Arroyo denied the accusations of election rigging in a television broadcast on June 27, but she acknowledged that it was her voice on the tape. Protests occurred frequently during the crisis in favor or against Arroyo and her administration. The electoral fraud issue itself has not yet been addressed directly by litigation. Despite the conflict, day-to-day operations of government offices, businesses, and schools were not affected.

Public opinion

Social Weather Stations (SWS), an opinion poll, conducted a survey on the public's view of the crisis. In Metro Manila, it was reported that the net trust rating of President Arroyo fell by 31%, with 48% having little trust in her and 17% with much trust. 94% of the survey's respondents said they were aware of the Garci tapes. 59% considered Arroyo's alleged actions cheating but 29% said that President Arroyo is just protecting her votes. 20% of the respondents want to move past the situation, 26% said that they must find the truth, and 18% said that Arroyo must resign. When SWS asked whether or not Vice-President Noli de Castro is capable of replacing the President, 48% said yes and 29% said no. According to their survey, Comelec received the net trust rating of 27%.

According to a CNN/Time poll, 57.5 percent of the people surveyed said that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not finish her term. See CNN article. A Pulse Asia survey released on Philippine news on July 12 shows that 57% of people want incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign from office.

Evidence

Samuel Ong

Two recordings have been presented to the public thus far: the Ong recordings and the government endorsed copies of such. Uncut copies of the Ong recordings are widespread. See Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). The first recordings to be released to the press are being used in the Congressional inquiry on the crisis. The second set of recordings, described by the government as the original, is more easily accessible in the Philippines as the government did not restrict the media from airing it. However, the media aired both sets, focusing on the Ong recordings. A transcript is available here, but its lack of government censorship has yet to be determined. government endorsed transcript

Shortly after the scandal broke, Randy David, a nonpartisan columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, cited two excerpts from the Ong recording in an article. Sheila Coronel, of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism was able to decipher some of the garbled parts of the tape, which allegedly implicate Arroyo in the scandal. David analyzed the tapes using ethnomethodology and came to the same conclusions as did Coronel. His analysis describes one of the speakers as a female coming across as a person speaking to her subordinate. Later, Arroyo acknowledged that it was her voice on the recording. David described Arroyo's subordinate as a "man...not in the business of counting votes; he produces them." [1].

Sheila Coronel described not only electoral fraud, but also the involvement of the independent watchdog group Namfrel. In her analysis, Coronel alleges clear evidence of corruption. The blog also has a commentary section where the garbled portions of the tape were digitally enhanced for clarity. Allegedly, Arroyo whispered "Yung dagdag, yung dagdag" ("The addition, the addition") implying fraud and mentioned Namfrel's sympathy for her.

According to Philippine law, both recordings are now part of the public domain and are freely distributable.

Rashma Hali

Rashma Hali, an electoral official in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, has evidence linking Arroyo and the kidnapping of her family. The kidnapping was done as a means of persuading her to manipulate the vote in her area. She claims that she is not the only victim of similar crimes. Arroyo allegedly ordered and gave explicit consent to the kidnapping, as an aid to her 2004 election campaign.

Michael Zuce

Michael Angelo Zuce claims that he was present in an incident where Arroyo allegedly bribed officials from the Commission on Elections. Zuce worked for the Presidential Liaison Office for Political Affairs. He also admitted that he bribed election officials in Mindanao for the sake of Arroyo's victory, using the money of the government office for which he worked. Zuce also claimed that Arroyo is not just the beneficiary of the alleged electoral fraud but she had, allegedly, full control and consent. His testimony also incriminated some local government officials.

Roberto Verzola

Roberto Verzola, leader of the Philippine Greens and an IT expert, revealed that he can also prove that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allegedly rigged the 2004 elections. According to Verzola, the "worst cheating" occurred in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Central Mindanao, where up to 50 percent of the vote may have been manipulated. Specific places of significant electoral fraud, with up to 70 percent of the vote rigged allegedly, included the provinces of Basilan, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi. Verzola used the data collected by a citizens' election watchdog, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), which did a parallel count based on 83% of all the official election precinct returns, to show that the election was in fact a dead-heat, and the administration party had to cheat by 1 to 1.2 million to give their presidential candidate the official 1.1 million-vote lead. Verzola also attacked the management of Namfrel for "covering up the cheating by keeping quiet about the huge discrepancies between its own count and the official count, and by manipulating its terminal report to make its results appear more consistent with the official results" (in favor allegedly of Arroyo). Verzola was a volunteer for the watchdog in 1992.

Jay Carizo and Election Cheating Indicators

The work of Verzola is being corroborated by Jay A. Carizo of the Institute of Popular Democracy. Carizo developed simple election cheating indicators by making a triangulation out of the election data from the Philippine Commission on Elections, the quickcount results of the Namfrel, and the official results as canvassed by the Joint Committee on the Canvassing of Votes for President and Vice President. The indicators proved that vote-shaving and padding indeed occurred in the places mentioned in the controversial wire-tapped conversation between President Gloria Arroyo and Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Other

Some independent sources from within Namfrel, and other independent sources, surfaced with new evidence regarding the electoral fraud allegations. This began with the 2004 election candidate's release of new evidence that could possibly prove electoral fraud, even in local government positions aside from the Arroyo allegations. Some claim that they could even prove not only electoral fraud, but also the murder of political opponents by incumbents. Also, a significant number of common people have begun to come out with their own eyewitness accounts of cheating. These include accusations against the management of ballot boxes, as well as the counting process. The alleged witnesses said though that they are reluctant to discuss their stories in public, for their families' sake. Circulation of evidence is no longer limited to the Ong recordings as a broad array of evidence have surfaced. The Ong recordings though are still the most prolific, as the new sources are still to be verified and/or be made public.

In a PowerPoint presentation on the alleged electoral fraud case filed by Loren_Legarda-Leviste against Noli de Castro, who won the vice-presidency against her in Philippine general election, 2004, Legarda and her principal witness, Segundo Tabayoyong, showed the Kapihan sa Manila forum how the cheating was done. It was a simpler and new way of cheating, used for the first time in the elections of 2004. They alleged that instead of changing the ballots at the precincts -- as was done in the past, which is difficult and labor-intensive -- the cheating was done on the election return (ER), the summary of the votes in the precincts. They alleged that these spurious ERs were prepared in advance, by a special force of about 200 persons in two places in Metro Manila (one in a hotel near the Edsa highway) and then sent to the provinces. The Commission on Elections has admitted that it overprinted 32,000 sets of these ERs before the elections. It has not explained fully what happened to these excess ERs. Of the approximately 5,000 ERs analyzed, 3,000 were found to be spurious. The vertical tally bars ("taras") used to mark the votes on the ERs were written very neatly and not in the uneven manner when written in the precincts because of stress and haste. There are columns where there are totals of votes but no bars. There are totals that do not tally with the bars. Thumb marks used to close the columns -- so no new bars could be added afterwards-were small, purposely smudged to make identification impossible. Required signatures were missing. Some had only initials instead of signatures. The analysis also alleges that the team gave De Castro an average of a 70-vote margin over Legarda, and Ms Arroyo, a 100-vote margin over Poe. Therefore, the 32,000 sets of overprinted ERs could translate to a vote-margin rate of approximately 2.1 million votes in the Legarda-De Castro vice-presidential contest and around 3 million votes in the Poe-Arroyo presidential race.

References

http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=51568&col=56

Pop culture

Humour

There is also the wide spread use of a portion of the contents in Ong tapes as a mobile phone ring tone. The ring tone starts with Hello, Garci? Hello Ma'm. This is common among the youth, especially with the start of the new school year in June. It became one of the world's most downloaded ring tones. See link There are also more various varieties of ring tones that are derived from the wiretapped conversation aside from the original ring tone. In addition to the popular ring tones, the so-called "prayer jokes" have become popular.

Partisan propaganda

A poster of President Arroyo being Valentina, a villain of the popular television series Darna, was in circulation. It is entitled "President Evil", alluding to the popular film and video game series Resident Evil. Another poster depicts a fictional film as it was called "Destabilisasyon: Ang Pagbabalik ni Asyong Salonga." (translated as Destabilisation: The Return of Asyong Salonga) The poster depicts the following people as its characters, Joseph Estrada, Laarni Enriquez, Samuel Ong, Sandra Cam, and Francis Escudero. These people are either opposition leaders and political opponents, or for Ong and Cam, whistleblowers. The two posters are definitely partisan either in favor or against Arroyo, and as propaganda, uses pop culture in aiding the cause of one side.

Implications

Government

The evidence carries with it great consequences. The Ong tape has already been neutrally authenticated by foreign companies Uniquest (Australia) and Voice Identification (United States). Also, Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, as well as the president herself, acknowledged that it was indeed Arroyo's voice. The protesting public insists that the tapes and CDs have already proven electoral fraud, and that Arroyo cheated and rigged the 2004 elections. People are clamoring that the results the 2004 elections be made invalid. The Supreme Court has not yet decided on the matter, and has not yet made a declaration of an invalid election.

There are two possible outcomes for government. Arroyo may resign or may be ousted through a constitutionally accepted means. These things may only be done after the issue of the current state of the faulty electoral system be addressed. The other outcome is that Arroyo be cleared of any wrong doing.

No final course of action has been taken yet to resolve the issue.

Electorate

The Philippines, according to experts, has a reputation for having political issues based on personality politics and the corruption, alleged or otherwise, involving government personalities. Such examples include the ouster of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada. However, what is unique about this crisis, according to same experts, is that it addresses the greater issue of electoral fraud and an allegedly faulty election system that allows cheaters to win, and worse, to get away with it, as put by an old Philippine saying, "There are two types of people in elections. Those who win and those who get cheated out of office." Politically outspoken student groups mention that this is rather new for Philippine politics, and shows a gradual development of the voting public, the electorate.

The accusations, if recognized to be true by the Supreme Court, will prove that the declared winners of the 2004 elections do not actually have the legal mandate to be in power. And, if the winners are stripped of their positions, this will be the first time that cheating politicians, in significant numbers, may actually be punished for their actions. Again if this happens, it will be a turning point in the country's electoral history, as the electorate's demand for free and fair elections will topple cheating candidates who almost got away with cheating, assuming these politicians are proven cheaters.

According to pundits, the past 60 years of the Philippine history already has a reputation of electoral fraud, proven or otherwise. It is just that no one ever gets caught, and that no one ever gets punished. Analysts assert that constituents have always been desensitized to their politicians cheating during elections, and because of this, people usually doubt their leaders' mandates. The people are also often suspicious of the winners, especially in close poll results, and do nothing. Constituents generally allow their leaders, assuming proven acts of cheating, to get away with cheating, until now.

Media coverage

Certain sectors claim that some media groups in broadcast and print are partisan in favor of Arroyo or against Arroyo. This is seen in the manner of the coverage of the crisis, and the selections of experts for interviews. Alternative media, mostly in radio, accuse the same, though they may be partisan themselves. These accusations though between them are not new, and are common during propaganda wars.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) warning on the country's radio and TV networks stands out during the crisis. The NTC warning of possible forced closure on any network that airs the contents of the Ong tapes is a contentious issue not only in the country but also abroad. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) even condemned the Arroyo administration for attempting to restrict the airing of the Ong recordings during the early part of the crisis.

However, before the warning some networks were already able to play the contents of the Ong tapes repeatedly. The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) later objected the NTC warning. Eventually, KBP announced that the media may broadcast the contents. Published transcripts are in circulation as well as audio recordings. The fate of these media groups is pending, regarding any future NTC action, though the KBP believes that the NTC has no legal basis in closing any any TV or radio network.

While traditional media still dominates coverage, particular print, radio, and television, other supplementary forms of media are emerging. If SMS texting was a contributing factor to the propaganda of both sides during the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada, e-mail and online journals (or blogs) have taken on a much more prominent role in the current crisis.

After Arroyo's State of the Nation address, reporters from independent local media complained against control of the free press and a "very strictly staged-managed press conference", Arroyo's first press conference in weeks. Local reporters were unusually forced to submit questions in advance and reporters from state controlled media were given priority. Three out of six mainstream TV channels are controlled by the government. Foreign media were completely banned from covering the conference.

Trials

Impeachment trial

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On June 27, human rights lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment case against Arroyo on the grounds of "Betrayal of Public Trust". Ten minutes later another impeachment complaint was filed. Another lawyer named Jose Rizaldo P. Lopez, a private citizen, filed against Arroyo at the House Secretary General's Office, in which he accused the President of betraying public trust as well. The mainstream pro-impeachment bloc in Congress though advocated for an amended version of the Lozano complaint. Rep. Rodante Marcoleta had endorsed the Lozano complaint in the House of Representatives, claiming that it was "sufficient in form and substance." This was later claimed otherwise by Report 1012. There were allegations that the Lozano complaint was just made to preempt the actions of minority. These were denied by the administration.

On August 23, the House of Representatives Justice Committee, charged with considering three articles of impeachment against the President, delayed a vote on which (if any) to invoke, voting instead to spend more time debating procedural matters. The committee is dominated by Arroyo's supporters and is expected to send the weakest of the three to Congress. [2]. Eventually, the Justice Committee sent Report 1012 to the rest of the House. The committee suggested in the report that the House cease impeachment proceedings altogether, thus preventing a trial for Arroyo. There were allegations that Report 1012 was rushed in order to "kill" the impeachment early, rather than to prepare the best possible impeachment complaint for the senate, which is role of the committee. Again, these were denied by the administration.

On September 6, the minority was not able to garner the 79 signatures to send the amended impeachment complaint to the senate. A vote of Report 1012 commenced, with the "yes" winning, thus finally ceasing proceedings for filing articles of impeachment, and a possible trial for Arroyo.

Oliver Lozano however filed a complaint with the Supreme Court questioning the decision of the Lower House to adopt the resolution of the Justice Committee that his earlier complaint "lacks in substance". The opposition however announced will not do the same and has vowed to take this matter to the streets instead. Until now, no massive support (by members of the business community, working-class & the military) is being given to sporadic protests.

People's trial

A "People's Court" was founded in October by citizen groups who wanted to continue what the lower house of Congress stopped.

Demonstration suppression

Since late September, Arroyo issued an executive order stating that all demonstrations without permits would be pre-emptively stopped. Then members of the military testified in Congressional hearings that they were defying a direct order not to testify about their knowledge of the election scandal. The opposition and militant groups have accused the Arroyo administration of moving towards an undeclared version of martial law. They allege the following events signify this creeping martial law:

• The "no permit, no rally" policy followed by the Calibrated Preemptive Response policy, both aimed at regulating street rallies.

• The drafting of an order by the Department of Justice for possible government takeover of key companies.

• The issuance of Executive Order No. 464, which forbids government officials from appearing in congressional inquiries without Ms Arroyo's prior consent.

• The alleged assassination plot against Ms Arroyo and the supposed "harassment" of prominent anti-Arroyo leaders.

There is more to be documented here about the recent US govt spy case that exposed critical US govt analysis of Arroyo regime, which some claim is an attempt to distance the US from Arroyo. More on that sort of analysis here:

http://news.inq7.net/viewpoints/index.php?index=2&story_id=53595&col=69

References

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=52433

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/2005_Philippine_electoral_crisis.html"


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